Grant Shapps rebuke of mayors over Northern Powerhouse Rail betrayal is misguided – The Yorkshire Post says

Exclusive: Grant Shapps brands mayors ‘irrational’ over criticism of £96bn Integrated Rail Plan and Northern Powerhouse Rail downgrade

It is their duty to stand up to the London Government when it goes back on its word and break multiple promises by choosing to downgrade Northern Powerhouse Rail and the eastern leg of HS2 to Leeds.

Leeds train misery is evidence that HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail downgrades as short-sighted as Beeching cuts – Tom Richmond

And they’re right – ahead of the first passenger trains going into service on Crossrail in June – to press for regional rail services comparable with London and elsewhere.

Passengers in the North warned rail works could cause 15 years of disruption

As South Yorkshire mayor Dan Jarvis says in response: “The full plan was not some gilded luxury. It was the minimum needed to rebalance some – not all – of the neglect of the past. Most importantly, it was what they promised – rightly, repeatedly, and unambiguously.”

Why Integrated Rail Plan criticism by mayors is ‘irrational’ - Grant Shapps

Given this, the onus is on Mr Shapps, as Transport Secretary (and Northern Powerhouse Minister) to work with elected leaders rather than castigating them. After all, metro mayors were intended to empower the regions – a point lost on those ministers who only want devolution when it suits.

And this is reflected by confirmation that Tory grandee Patrick McLoughlin has been chosen to become the next chair of Transport for the North – the body which warned Mr Shapps just last week about the scale of disruption that will be suffered by passengers as a result of the IRP’s ‘make do and mend’ approach.

This is the same Lord McLoughlin whose commitment to HS2, as Transport Secretary from 2012-16, was tempered by a lack of urgency over the electrification of major railway lines in Yorkshire.

At face value, this appointment smacks of cronyism and a desire by the DfT to appoint a compliant ‘yes’ person to the role. And if such a conclusion leads to Mr Shapps also accusing The Yorkshire Post of being ‘irrational’, then so be it. It’s called scrutiny.

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